***** The Official US Grand Prix thread *****

[Scuffers]

zebra said:

Alternatively, do you think Rosberg will ever win an F1 title?

No, I think his window of opportunity has gone...

[Mini1275]

Followed up by Mercedes engineers rolling on the ground in hysterics as Nico bought that and happily walked out of the room content that it wasn't his lack of talent at all.

[SeeFive]

Listen guys. We need to stop all of this anti-Lewis stuff on here. It could be seriously bad for our health, and there wasn't even a can of Red Bull in sight in Mexico.

Be very afraid.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf60JKnkUT0

[mko9]

Mini1275 said:

Followed up by Mercedes engineers rolling on the ground in hysterics as Nico bought that and happily walked out of the room content that it wasn't his lack of talent at all.

I won't try to confirm or deny Rosberg's comment, but having been at the race it was windy as st all day. And the day before when it was dumping down sideways.

[williamp]

mko9 said:

Mini1275 said:

Followed up by Mercedes engineers rolling on the ground in hysterics as Nico bought that and happily walked out of the room content that it wasn't his lack of talent at all.

I won't try to confirm or deny Rosberg's comment, but having been at the race it was windy as st all day. And the day before when it was dumping down sideways.

Interesting if true. Did you notice any other cars affected?

[Leroy902]

williamp said:

mko9 said:

Mini1275 said:

Followed up by Mercedes engineers rolling on the ground in hysterics as Nico bought that and happily walked out of the room content that it wasn't his lack of talent at all.

I won't try to confirm or deny Rosberg's comment, but having been at the race it was windy as st all day. And the day before when it was dumping down sideways.

Interesting if true. Did you notice any other cars affected?

It looked like kimi may have had a similar experience with his off.

Regardless, if I was Nico, I certainly wouldn't be going public, claiming a gust of wind coming from a spectator farting as the reason.

Edited by Leroy902 on Friday 30th October 01:32

[anonymous-user]

It wasn't that windy during the race. No worse than at other events this year.

[glazbagun]

Alleged gust of Wind put Alonso in a wall at the end of testing, too. Maybe he'll wake up and the 2015 McLaren will all be a dream.

[kambites]

Scuffers said:

kambites said:

I seem to remember reading/hearing somewhere that even at races where the fuel tank is big enough to run flat-out for the whole race, they under-fill and fuel save because over the course of the race it's actually faster than running a higher fuel load (and of course if the safety car comes out it can be much faster).
I suppose refuelling would remove that, but simply allowing more fuel would not.

yes, that's because with the tyres falling apart, they can't use the power they have

Makes sense, I guess.

[Redlake27]

I think Nico can be WDC. I'm not sure if he has a driver coach, but he needs someone who can help him work on his mindset.

The pace is there, the killer instinct isn't, but he needs to play to his strengths.

Whilst I agree with the earlier post that Nico isn't in the Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton league, I don't see him as a fading talent yet. For me, he is like Button - very nearly A list, and better than that A list on certain days.

For me he has two options after his Merc contract ends. 1) Move to a team that he can build around him: Williams? Renault? Haas? or 2) Work on his mindset and deal with Hamilton in the same way as Button did at McLaren - doing things in a very different way to his teammate.

[ZX10R NIN]

kambites said:

Scuffers said:

kambites said:

I seem to remember reading/hearing somewhere that even at races where the fuel tank is big enough to run flat-out for the whole race, they under-fill and fuel save because over the course of the race it's actually faster than running a higher fuel load (and of course if the safety car comes out it can be much faster).
I suppose refuelling would remove that, but simply allowing more fuel would not.

yes, that's because with the tyres falling apart, they can't use the power they have

Makes sense, I guess.

Or they could make them fill their tanks regardless of fuel useage that way everyone is managing the same thing, it would also put an end to lift & coast because if you have the fuel in the car you might as well use it.

[johnxjsc1985]

jsf said:

It wasn't that windy during the race. No worse than at other events this year.

He probably means a different kind of wind that involved a follow through at the first corner

[Scuffers]

ZX10R NIN said:

Or they could make them fill their tanks regardless of fuel useage that way everyone is managing the same thing, it would also put an end to lift & coast because if you have the fuel in the car you might as well use it.

an excellent idea BUT!

that's flies in the face of the so called objectives of these new power units vying for efficiency.

it also means the teams can no longer capitalise on their car's performance advantages (ie, being more aero efficient) thus needing less fuel, making them faster still as they are carrying less weight around.

Easier to give them decent tyres that do not fall apart/degrade at the first hint of being pushed hard.

[ajprice]

ZX10R NIN said:

kambites said:

Scuffers said:

kambites said:

I seem to remember reading/hearing somewhere that even at races where the fuel tank is big enough to run flat-out for the whole race, they under-fill and fuel save because over the course of the race it's actually faster than running a higher fuel load (and of course if the safety car comes out it can be much faster).
I suppose refuelling would remove that, but simply allowing more fuel would not.

yes, that's because with the tyres falling apart, they can't use the power they have

Makes sense, I guess.

Or they could make them fill their tanks regardless of fuel useage that way everyone is managing the same thing, it would also put an end to lift & coast because if you have the fuel in the car you might as well use it.

I'm not sure of the numbers but in the Australian V8s, there is an amount of fuel that must be put into the car during a race, and the fuel tank capacity is smaller than that, so at some point of the race they must pit and refuel. Its something like a minimum of 140 litres and a capacity of 110.

[Scuffers]

re-fueling was banned to reduce costs, the rigs were stupid money, and the cost of shipping them about was not exactly cheap either.

[RB Will]

London424 said:

RB Will said:

Just want to drop in that I'm impressed with Nicos restraint when he overtook Lewis in the race as he left him a comfortable car width rather than running him off the track.
I would have shoved him as wide as possible. Possibly Nico may have been thinking that he couldnt push him too hard as if Lewis didnt move and ended Nicos race then that would be the championship over anyway.

I think if I was Nico I would be spending the rest of this season making the point that Im not going to be pushed around by Lewis anymore and if every overtake ends in conact then so be it. Might make Lewis think twice about messing around next year.

The corner he did it on wasn't one where you could run him off. Still pushed him over the rumble strips though.

Not sure what you mean, he could have pushed him well wide if needed but left a clear 1 car width between himself and the kerbs, it was Lewis who chose to dive off track.

see vid at 28 mins in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvm9OKLsS1s

[London424]

RB Will said:

London424 said:

RB Will said:

Just want to drop in that I'm impressed with Nicos restraint when he overtook Lewis in the race as he left him a comfortable car width rather than running him off the track.
I would have shoved him as wide as possible. Possibly Nico may have been thinking that he couldnt push him too hard as if Lewis didnt move and ended Nicos race then that would be the championship over anyway.

I think if I was Nico I would be spending the rest of this season making the point that Im not going to be pushed around by Lewis anymore and if every overtake ends in conact then so be it. Might make Lewis think twice about messing around next year.

The corner he did it on wasn't one where you could run him off. Still pushed him over the rumble strips though.

Not sure what you mean, he could have pushed him well wide if needed but left a clear 1 car width between himself and the kerbs, it was Lewis who chose to dive off track.

see vid at 28 mins in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvm9OKLsS1s

I mean that drivers get run off the road when the racing line for a corner takes you to the edge of the track once you've gone through the corner. That corner is a double right so the racing line doesn't take you to the edge of the track at the point the overtake occured.

[RB Will]

I see what you mean now but it was still a very viable option to run a bit wide of the line and put Lewis off without compromising himself.

[London424]

RB Will said:

I see what you mean now but it was still a very viable option to run a bit wide of the line and put Lewis off without compromising himself.

I think that's where you get into trouble though. Not taking the racing line to force people off track is a bit naughty. Staying on the racing line and running people out of track is just what happens.

[RB Will]

yeah it would be a no no to do it approaching a corner or on a straight, not sure about a double apex though. Considering Nicos line was compromised going into the corner it would be a harsh steward giving a penalty for running a bit wide of the optimum line even if he did run Lewis out of road.